Chile’s government will need to tighten its belt and give priority to certain projects as prices for its top export, copper, continue their steady decline, Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes said on Monday.
Prices for copper, which accounted for half of Chile’s exports in 2015, fell on Monday to their lowest in 6-1/2 years as large declines on Chinese equity markets reinforced tarnished prospects for growth and demand in the country, the world’s biggest consumer of industrial metals.
